


Red Rocket Pool Party

by PeacefulPhoenix



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Gen, No Romance, Only friendshipping, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Spoilers for Hancock's story, very mild swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 03:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5651398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeacefulPhoenix/pseuds/PeacefulPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tucker (My SS) and his faithful companions all live in the Red Rocket Station together which they have lovingly renovated into a half-way decent place to live. Among the renovations was a pool table which (finally) has an entire collection of pool balls and a couple pool cues. Hancock and Piper, in an attempt to make Tucker happy, try to learn to play with Nick's help. Honestly this is just them hanging out and chatting and being bros because everyone needs some downtime in the apocalypse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Rocket Pool Party

**Author's Note:**

> I have not actually taken Piper as a companion so apologies if her characterization is off. This is just the impression I got from her during the few interactions we've had and from other fanfics and fanart I've seen.

It was a pretty quiet night at the Red Rocket Station the sole survivor of Vault 111, Tucker, and his companions stayed at. Originally it had been pretty beat up. To get it to working order they’d had to clear out an infestation of mole rats, a lot of old tires and oil, and set up some food and water. That was all they needed to do but of course they didn’t stop there. Tucker, Preston, and Cait had seriously overhauled the exterior. A deck had been out back, outfitted with some lawn furniture, a guard post, and food and chemistry stations. It wasn’t the prettiest thing ever but they were so proud that no one cared. 

Cait and Hancock had offered to do some interior decorating but frankly, no one trusted those two together. Tucker and Codsworth had done most of it with some occasional input from Curie and Valentine. At first everyone gave them a lot of shit for their design choices. One time in particular Danse had gone on a bit of a rant about the basketball hoops, saying they were a waste of resources. Tucker had to explain that it was a pre-war thing, something people did to work out and have some fun. It took a while but it wasn’t uncommon to see people playing now in free-time. Most of them still didn’t quite understand but they could see how much it made Tucker smile whenever he saw.

Everyone stopped talking shit about anything they didn’t understand. Pre-war had always been a touchy subject with Tucker so instead they went to Nick to learn all they could. He’d been trying to teach Hancock and Piper about pool for about 2 weeks now. It wasn’t going well. 

One such night the three were in the renovated garage-turned-lounge while the others slept in the shack outside, except Dogmeat who was sleeping on the couch in the room with them. Tucker and Preston had gone off to catch up on their duties for the minutemen so it was the perfect opportunity. “You know you’re supposed to be aiming for the pockets, right?” Valentine asked with a chuckle as Piper missed a shot. Again. Smoke curled from the cigarette held between two of his intact fingers.

“Oh look at me! I’m Nick Valentine and I’m so great because I know how to poke plastic balls with a stick,” she huffed, waving her hands by her face. “I think it was a pretty good shot,” she whispered mostly to herself. 

Hancock laughed then stepped up to line up his own shot. “You know if I just took some orange mentats I bet I could do this no problem.” Nick shot him a look and while his face was mostly shadowed by his fedora, the ghoul got the idea. The lighting was still kinda spotty. Deacon was supposedly looking into finding someone to fix it but who knows with that guy. “Alright alright fine I won’t.” Hancock took the shot and the ball hit another ricocheting it into another which then sunk into one of the pockets. “See, I told you guys I didn’t need chems to do it. I totally meant for that to happens.”

Piper and Valentine were not impressed. 

Hancock began to line up his next shot after Nick reminded him. “You know, I wish these stick things weren’t so screwed up. I bet it would make this game a lot easier,” Piper commented as she leaned against the garage door. 

“Pool cues,” Nick reminded. “And if you want to tell Tucker that you’re my guest. Ain't exactly easy to find ones that haven’t been wrapped it wire by raiders.” Some chalk wouldn’t be a bad idea either but that was even harder to find. It had taken a month just to get all the balls but goddamn if these two couldn’t use all the help they could get. 

Hancock missed the shot so Piper was up again. She managed to get close but no cigar. “Ugh! Why are pre-war games so hard! I don’t see why we don’t just make Tucker learn our games.” A look from the other two caused her to sigh and roll her eyes. “I know, Blue’s lost a lot but it’s not like we haven’t too. We all left our lives to join him on his crusade which don’t get me wrong is totally a good cause and I’m gonna have a great story at the end of all this but I miss Nat and Diamond City. Don’t you guys?”

“Can’t say I miss Diamond City,” Hancock said before laughing. “Aint exactly the most welcoming to my type.” 

Nick joined with a laugh of his own. “Not big fans of my kind either. Only reason they keep me around is because I’m not a half-bad detective.”

“Not to mention the people in the stands.”

“And don’t get me started on Moe Cronin. Guy doesn’t know a thing about baseball.” 

“Or the-”

“Okay! I get it!” Piper cut them both off with a glare. “Take your shot, Hancock, or I will.” He put his hands up in surrender a slight smirk on his lips. The ghoul tried to be extra showing, moving the cue forward and backwards as if focusing real hard and then adjusting to one side then back to where he was before. “I swear to god if you don’t-” Piper started to say before stopping to laugh as Hancock completely missed the ball. “You didn’t even hit it!”

Nick joined in the laugh, going to the cigarette machine to put out the one he had just finished and getting another. Hancock gave them both the middle finger and tried again, this time hitting the cue ball but nothing else. “You want one, Hancock?” Nick offered, holding out a cigarette to him. He grumbled stuff to himself but took it and lit it anyways. 

“Tucker better appreciate all the work we’re putting into getting good at this damn game,” commented Hancock as Piper took her turn, pocketing her first ball of the game.

“Good job. Now just do that about 9 more times,” Nick commented. Piper pouted and he chuckled, taking a long drag before continuing. You know, being a synth these things really didn’t do much for him. Not really. It was all in his head. Maybe if he was a gen 3… But nope. It was all a placebo. He always figured if a placebo worked no reason to stop. “And you know full well he’ll love playing with you guys. He’s getting pretty sick of having to play with this old bag of nuts and bolts by now I figure. Though I do think saying you’re ‘getting good’ is a bit of a stretch.” 

They played silently for a while, smoke slowly filling the air and making it just a little bit hazy. The only sound came from the balls knocking together and Dogmeat’s snoring. Occasionally Valentine would offer tips but no one was keeping score. It was hard to be competitive at night. Way too peaceful for that kinda thing. 

As the last ball sunk into the pocket on their third game Piper laid down her pool cue on the table. “Alright boys, I’m out.” She walked over to the couch and put her feet up on the ottoman. It may be 200 years old but it was comfy as hell. 

Nick nodded and started pulling the balls from the pockets. “I’ll get everything cleaned up again.” He put out his hand and Hancock passed him his own pool cue. “I’ll be right over.” The synth got the rack and collected all the balls, setting them and the cue balls on opposite ends of the table then crossing the pool cues in the middle. 

Hancock sauntered on over to the couch and pat Dogmeat’s back until he got the message and hopped down from the couch. “Anyone down for a chem break?” he asked, digging through his pockets. Both Piper and Nick, who had now joined them and claimed the arm chair, shook their heads, the latter opting to pop open a nuka cola instead. Hancock shrugged and popped some Mentats for himself. He liked feeling all intellectual and shit from time to time. 

“You know what I miss most about Diamond City?” Piper said, pausing a second before continuing. “The noodles.” She hummed in approval and patted her stomach. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool that we grow all our own food here and stuff but nothing beats those noodles.”

Hancock nodded then put up his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, I’ve got a confession to make.” He stopped to properly build the dramatic effect. Nick rolled his eyes because the ghoul never failed to surprise him with just how much of a drama queen he was. When he thought they were properly in suspense he continued. “I have someone smuggle those noodles to Goodneighbor.”

Piper gasped and pointed at him. “So that’s who that guy is! I knew he was up to something! No one gets noodles that often. And he always gets so many...” 

Hancock nodded gravely. “Yes. He has worked for me the whole time. My dirty secret has been revealed. And I better not see this in that paper of yours. Then I’d have to find a new guy. It’d be a whole thing.”

There were several more minutes of silence. Nick had leaned back, his eyes closed and head tilted back to the ceiling. “How the detective agency going, Nick? Working any cases?” Piper asked, setting down her now empty bottle of cola. 

Nick’s glowing yellow eyes slowly opened and he sat up straight, with a slight cough. “It goes. I’m sure Ellie’s got most of it handled. There’s not much I can do from out here. Most of the cases end up unsolved anyways. Not much you can do once someone runs into a bunch of raiders.” He paused, thinking for a moment before continuing. “I did get this one case recently, though. Some guy was snooping around the upper stands. No one thought much of it until he robbed most of the places up there. Made off with a few thousand bottlecaps and disappeared. I found him days later about an hour out from the city with a pack of feral ghouls cept he was still alive. Somehow he’d tricked them into thinking he was feral too.” Nick shook his head, pursing his lips. “Probably the strangest case I’ll ever work.”

Hancock and Piper were just staring at him, mouth’s wide. “... What?” The reporter finally managed to say. The edges of Nick’s lips curled up ever so slightly. “Oh you are so full of bullshit!”

Nick laughed and nodded. “You can’t trust everything a synth tells you, my friends. Most of it was true though. Found the perp - and most of the caps - but they were pretty spread out through the ghouls. Only recovered about half of what was stolen. Detective work is sure never dull. I’ve worked a lot of… interesting cases for Diamond City.”

Nick tried to catch Hancock’s eye but he looked dead ahead. “You can’t do a setup like that then not tell the story, Nicky,” Piper teased. 

Nick smiled then nodded. “Well remember when our charming mayor was elected?” Piper shot him a look like ‘who doesn’t’ and Hancock tensed up ever so slightly. “There was a lot of things going on for the agency around then: lots of people wondering where their friends and family were going to.”

“To Goodneighbor mostly,” Hancock interjected. “Only place willing to take them in.” He paused as he reconsidered. “Well, only place back then. Tucker’s convinced the Minutemen to let them in too now.” He smiled proudly like it was all his doing. 

Nick rolled his eyes. “You weren’t even mayor back then but if you want to finish the story, Johnny, go ahead.” The synth’s lips curved into a smirk while Hancock’s turned to a scowl. Piper just looked between them trying to figure if this was 1) an old rivalry, 2) sexual tension, or 3) juicy, juicy secrets. She’d place her bets on 3 mostly because no one in their right mind would call Hancock John, much less Johnny. 

The two kept their eyes locked on each other as Hancock continued the story. “When the ghouls got booted from Diamond Shitty I made sure to get as many of them as possible to Goodneighbor. Nick figured it out and came to see who was there. Accounted for most of the missings. All of them but one,” he added, pointing both thumbs at his chest.

Piper’s jaw dropped as she looked between the two. “Wait, you’re telling me he’s-” She pointed to Hancock then stopped. “Are you guys bullshitting me again?” she asked, eyes narrowed. Nick was the first to tear his gaze away and look at her, soon followed by Hancock. “Ohmygodyou’renot.” The excitement had her practically shaking. “Everyone thought you were just dead, John!”

Hancock looked back at Nick with a slight growl. “See, this is why I told you not to tell people.” He looked back at Piper. “John McDonough died the day I woke up a ghoul. And I’m sure he died to my brother the day he helped ghouls find somewhere new to live,” he added with a genuine laugh. “Hancock suits me much better.”

Piper nodded and looked down, a slight frown on her lips as though she was still trying to process it. “So… No printing this?” Both the synth and the ghoul shook their heads. “Damn. Cause ‘Synth Mayor of Diamond City and Ghoul Mayor of Goodneighbor Secretly Brothers!’ would make an awesome headline.” Her hands stretched out in front of her as she talked, as though drawing the title in the air. “Okay so maybe it’s a little long.”

They all laughed until Hancock stood up. “Either of you up for one more game?”

Nick stood as well, stepping forward to pick up a cue. “You’re on, ghoul boy.”

“Okay that’s just not fair. No using any of your synth process-y math-y stuff.” 

“No promises.”

It was nearly sunrise before any of the three got to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated! Especially constructive criticism as I'm trying to improve my writing. Thanks!


End file.
